How Heston Blumenthal Is Reinventing Fast (Airport) Food

The centerpiece of London Heathrow Airport's gleaming new Terminal 2 is the Perfectionists' Cafe, the most recent—"and most democratic"—venture from brilliantly madcap chef Heston Blumenthal.

Traditionally, airport dining has revolved around pre-made turkey sandwiches and tired fast-food options, but chefs like Blumenthal are changing the equation. Blumenthal, best known for hard-to-get-into (and afford) restaurants the Fat Duck in Bray and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park, belieevs he's cracked the code on churning out quick but compelling grub. Whether it's waiting out a long layover with 30-day dry-aged steak, or knocking back a quality Buck's Fizz before boarding that red-eye, passengers here sit amid a backdrop of marble and wood reminiscent of glorious circa-1960s travel.

The menu at the Perfectionists' Cafe reads as deceptively simple—burgers, pizza, fish and chips—but since the UK's poster child for molecular gastronomy dreamed them up, the dishes are anything but. "Perfection is subjective," says Blumenthal. "There is always the search for, and existence of, something better."

Here are four ways Blumenthal is working to revolutionize fast food:

Real Pizza - Emerging from a massive, 500-degree, wood-burning oven are properly charred and chewy pies (one satisfying version is laden with truffled culatello and fior di latte). "It took us months to get the right interactions between trapping the maximum amount of Co2 in the dough, and having the oven hot enough so it bubbles but the cheese doesn’t harden and the sloppy stuff stays on top," he says. Another secret weapon: adding a teaspoon of olive oil to the dough.

Better Burgers - Burgers are an airport go-to, but none are made with quite the same precision as Blumenthal's version. Melding three different cuts of British beef that have all been ground in one direction for optimal juiciness, each burger abides by Blumenthal's rule that it should never exceed the width of three fingers in your mouth. "You want to bite through all the layers. The bottom needs to be soft enough to squeeze through the thickness, but sturdy enough that it won't soak up enough juices to fall apart," he warns. Then each patty is tucked inside a brioche bun, topped with slices of dill pickles and accompanied by a gussied up Thousand Island-like sauce.

Upgraded Fish and Chips - Order the fish and chips here and in a nod to Blumenthal's affinity for the multi-sensory servers will spritz it with an atomizer of malt vinegar-pickled onion juice that conjures a down-home chip shop. The next thing you’ll notice, however, is the bubbly, crispy, beer batter exterior, courtesy of siphon aeration. "At the end of the day, it's light and crunchy," Blumenthal promises.

Ice Cream with a Show - Everyday soft-serve wouldn't do for Blumenthal's ice cream parlor. Instead, he turns to a geeky, high-tech system in which the likes of blackcurrant sorbet are frozen with liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees Celsius. "When you see the nitrogen coming out there’s visual excitement," says Blumenthal. "It’s a bit of magic."